


Love Among the Stars

by LadyJaneGrey92



Series: Love Among the Stars Collection: A Tribute to Cold Comfort Farm [1]
Category: Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
Genre: Alternate Ending, F/M, Hopeless Romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 07:24:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17914403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyJaneGrey92/pseuds/LadyJaneGrey92
Summary: *Part 1 of the Love Among the Stars Series*This was a story birthed as a result of a very lovely collage by Jennstar.  It has been conceived of and written all in the same day.It poses the question...what if Flora Poste didn't marry Charles after all?  What if there was an entirely different ending?  Hmm...This is a fanfic based on the 1995 production of Cold Comfort Farm, starring Rufus Sewell as Seth Starkadder, Kate Beckinsale as Flora Poste and featuring Joanna Lumley as Mrs. Mary Smiling.  Other characters appearing are as the were cast in this same production.





	1. A Letter Is Received

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JennStar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JennStar/gifts).



> Just a bit of fun of course. Done on the fly and may be a bit rough. But I hope you enjoy! Please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think. :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story begins after the ending of Cold Comfort Farm. Flora is staying with Mary again when she receives a most extraordinary letter...

Chapter 1

 

_Dear Miss Poste (or may I at least say Cousin Flora),_

_How do I thank you for the opportunity of a lifetime? I never thought to find myself here, in Hollywood. Never thought I'd ever be anywhere but at Cold Comfort, with Rueben and Ma and Grandma. After all, there's always been Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm. And there do be times I don't half miss the old place. City living do be fine, but they aren't half loud. But at least there ain't no scranlitting here._

_Got me in one of they talkies now. I play a pirate. Imagine that, eh? Me? A pirate! I ain’t never been to sea afore I come here. But the director do say it be going well. I think my costar do be fancying me, too. But I ain’t got no time for that. Women! They do be all the same here, just as they was at home. Although a damn sight cleaner. Saving yourself, that is._

_I don't half miss you too, Cousin Flora. Women here, they do put me in mind of you. But I think you is prettier. I find myself wondering as I work if you will go and see my film in London. I wish I could watch it with ya. You never did accept my invitation to the talkies did ya? I guess you be one woman that ain’t after a man's blood, after all.  Funny.  It do make me want to give mine to ye anyway, if you will have it.  
_

_I know I weren't no catch afore to the likes of ye. But they do say that now I'll be as rich as a lord afore long. Reckon I'll be able to make good for the Starkadders and all.  Send some home to Reuben, to help out with the farm when the takings aren't good. Maybe even repair the old house, and the damn barn.  
_

_Tell me, Cousin Flora, were I a rich man, would ye consider me then? I ain’t met no woman here that I like as well as you. I'll let you polish me all ye want. And if ye wants to eat me, well, damn me, but I wouldn't mind that a bit. So long as it was you._

_I'm planning to ship the whole clan out here for the premiere. Ma and grandma and Reuben--the whole lot of them. Would ye come too, Cousin Flora? It would mean the world to me and that’s the truth. Please say you will._

_Love,_

_Seth_

Flora put her letter down with a start.

“Well, I must say that was unexpected.” She said out loud, removing her glasses.

“What was, Flora dear,” said Cousin Mary, thumbing through her latest fashion magazine.

“I’ve had a letter from Seth,” she said, frowning at the paper. “He appears to fancy himself in love with me.”

“Oh? And how is that so unexpected? After all, Darling, you did get him his big break.”

“Yes, but I thought he’d be far too busy with Hollywood starlets to give me another thought. I told you he had a box of photographs, all signed too.”

“Yes well, perhaps they don’t want him, hmm?”

“No. That definitely isn’t it. Seth is nothing if not a magnet for women of all ages and types, I would imagine. That’s what got him his break, not I. He is rather strapping and attractive in a brutish, earthy sort of way.”

“Oh? You never mentioned that before.” Mary raised an eyebrow at her cousin.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m sure I never fell under his spell. He fathered half the children in the district, I’m sure of it.”

“Quite,” Mary said, hiding her smile in her magazine.

“Mary! Surely you aren’t suggesting I’m in denial, are you?”

“Well. Something certainly happened to you while you were there, my dear. Just look at what happened to poor Charles when you returned.”

“Yes,” she frowned and picked at her sleeve. “I confess I never saw that coming. When I was away he seemed so dashing and elegant. Everything a girl should want.”

“But when you returned he just wasn’t, is that it?”

“I don’t know. I honestly don’t. Suddenly he seemed so very…I don’t know, two dimensional somehow. Like a paper doll one cuts out and dresses for amusement. So boring and uninteresting. I never realized how completely banal his conversation was, until I had more of it than I could stand to listen to. He’s a good fellow, really. But just not for me I’m afraid.”

Mary sighed dramatically and flipped a page.

“It was for the best that I broke it off. For him as well as for me,” Flora insisted. “He will be much happier with someone else.”

“Perhaps. Eventually.”

Flora felt a stab of guilt. Charles had been disconsolate when she broke off their engagement. “I don’t know. Perhaps I’m just not ready yet.”

“Well. Are you going to read me his letter, or aren’t you?”

“What? Oh, I didn’t realize you wanted to hear it.”

“Perhaps I don’t,” Mary sighed dramatically. “But as I rather suspect the contents might be enlightening as to your desertion of your other dear cousin I suppose I’d better.”

Flora read the letter, blushing all the while.

“Well,” Mary said, popping a strawberry into her mouth, “I must say my opinion of him improved considerably when he talked of becoming as rich as a lord! But…Flora dear, the rest of it is positively shocking! How could he speak such a way to you?”

“That’s Seth for you. He’s nothing if not direct. It actually is in reference to another conversation we had once where he tried to seduce me.” She rolled her eyes. “But that was when I discovered his passion for the talkies after all. Then we became friends sort of and..oh I don’t know, Mary. I’d be lying if I said he wasn’t handsome. He is. Very. Apparently you’ll be able to see for yourself when his first movie comes to London. Imagine, going to see the talkies and finding Seth on the screen.” She sat back with a giggle. “Still he sounds happy, does he not? Certainly his future will be much brighter now he’s in his proper place, and not bedding all the hired girls in the hayloft each spring.”

“Well. Are you going to accept his invitation then?”

“I hadn’t thought I should.” She stood and paced to the window.

“Flora. This is me you’re talking to. Tell me. Do you fancy him? Do you find yourself thinking of him at odd moments, wondering as to his welfare and whereabouts? Did the specter of his presence prevent you from marrying Charles? You really must be terribly honest about these things you know. Only if your honest can you address them all quite properly.”

Flora gazed at the street below. There were motor cars driving up and down in the rain. She could see her own reflection frowning back at her in the glass.

“When Rueben asked me to marry him, the answer was obviously no. I could never have married him. He is a good sort but entirely unattractive. But Seth…” she sighed. Seth. With his sideways smile and his knowing eyes. That moment she’d first laid eyes on him, bathing himself in the trough outside her window, standing upright, his bare chest glistening with water, his eyes meeting hers…and winking.

She smiled at the memory. He was so rough around the edges. So…earthy. And yet something about him oozed charm in a way she suspected no woman could quite resist. And they’d danced together that night at the Hawk-Monitor’s. Seth in a tuxedo was breathtaking. Even she had thought so.

“Oh, why don’t you just admit it, Darling. You do like him,” Mary said in a resigned voice. “You always did have the most peculiar taste.”

“Do I like him? I don’t really know, I think. I never thought about it before.”

“Well. There’s nothing for it then. You must accept his invitation. Join the Starkadders on their voyage to America. Go and find out if there is anything between you. And if there isn’t, perhaps then you can both put it to rest. He can move on to bedding starlets in the haylofts of Los Angeles, and you can come back and put Charles out of his misery, poor dear.”

“Really Mary!” Flora laughed. “There are no haylofts in Los Angeles!”

“Haylofts come in all sizes and shapes, Darling. There are always haylofts in any place you happen to be in. Trust me. I know.”

 

 


	2. A Letter Is Replied To

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the title implies, Flora sends her reply. Then ventures forth for her first trip to America.

Chapter 2

 

_Dear Seth,_

_I confess I was somewhat surprised by your letter. Not that you are doing well—I always expected that. But I am surprised to find you remember me at all. I should have thought that now that you were at last among those Hollywood ladies that you so long dreamed about, you would find no time at all to remember your rather plain cousin. I should more have expected a letter detailing how each one fell into your arms instantly upon meeting you instead, and that you were spoiled for choice now, and grappling with making a decision among them. You never did seem at too much a loss for female company after all._

_If it truly means so much to you as you have indicated, then yes, I should be most happy to accept your invitation to your premiere in Los Angeles. I should be pleased to see Mr. Neck again, as well as yourself, and I have always wished to see America._

_Your Cousin,_

_Flora Poste_

 

Seth read her letter. Then read it again. He couldn’t help it. He smiled. Took a deep breath. Read it again, just to be sure, like. Held it to his nose and inhaled. Not sealed in perfume, but he thought he could detect the faintest whiff of…her about it.

She was coming. She was coming!

Flora was coming to see him.

He whooped for joy.

* * *

Flora alighted before her hotel, exhausted but exhilarated. She was in Los Angeles at last! The trip hadn’t half taken an age. She helped Aunt Ada from the car, and marveled again at what a natural globe-trotter she’d turned out to be. Cousin Judith had come as well, of course. Though Cousin Judith no longer dressed like a gypsy and talked endlessly about her own death, Flora still was not entirely certain that Judith had addressed all of her issues when it came to her own son, Seth. Still it was clear that Dr. Mudel had indeed been good for her. Elfine and Dick had come along too, of course. But Reuben and Rennet could not be pried from Cold Comfort. Though Reuben did send his best wishes to his brother for his success.

They checked into their rooms, all on the same floor. Judith and Aunt Ada shared of course, and Elfine and Dick had their own. Which left her to her own room as well.

At last.

She did like her Starkadder cousins very much indeed, but at times they could all be rather tiresome, and Flora was grateful for the solitude. She had been there only a few moments though, before a knock sounded on her door.

“This arrived for you at the desk, Miss,” said a fresh faced bell hop, sporting an enormous bouquet of red roses.

“Indeed? Are you quite sure?”

“Miss Flora Poste?”

“Yes.”

“Yes Ma’am. Quite sure.”

She opened the door and allowed him to place the arrangement on a small table, tipping him as was custom here on his way out.

The flowers had a card.

Sure enough, her name was elegantly written on the envelope. She opened it.

 

_Dear Cousin Flora,_

_I cannot thank you enough for coming all this way for me. Truth is I can’t wait to see you. There’s a little cafe right next to your hotel that serves decent breakfast. Meet me there at 9am tomorrow? I remember as how you likes to sleep late. Then perhaps I can show you the town?_

_Your affectionate cousin,_

_Seth_

_P.S.—don’t tell the others. I’ve been most eager to see you out of all of them. I don’t want to share you just yet…_

 

Flora smiled. She positively did not feel herself blushing! But she did enjoy the heavenly scent of the roses, and the touch and feel of each velvety petal. Seth certainly had learned a thing or two, she marveled, since coming out here. Either that, or simply money and independence had made him into more of a gentleman than she had thought possible for a time. Perhaps he’d even wash before breakfast, she thought with a giggle.

* * *

At nine am she strolled into the cafe.

“Miss Poste?” The waitress in attendance took her name. “Oh! This way, Miss Poste. Your party is already here.”

From the waitresses broad smile and speculative glance, she could tell indeed that Seth was already here. She wondered idly as she followed the girl if he’d taken her out back and got her pregnant yet.

The girl took her all the way to the back of the restaurant to a secluded booth. As soon as he saw her, he stood awkwardly and too eagerly to his feet. The girl disappeared without either of them noticing.

He had changed very little, she thought. Much cleaner of course, but still as strong as an ox and as earthy as one. That heady aura that had always been around him was still there. More so, if it could be imagined. His eyes were large and as green as jade as he drank her in.

“Cousin Flora,” he said finally, swallowing.

“Cousin Seth,” she returned with a smile.

Rather cutely and still awkwardly for Seth, he helped her to sit. It seemed he had developed feelings for her in her absence, she thought with amazement.

“It innut half good to see you,” he said finally, taking her hands in his.

His hands were large, and strong and capable, she noticed rather unwillingly.

“You too, Seth. How have you been?”

“Well. Its a good life here. The talkies. Premiere’s tonight.”

“Yes I know.”

He laughed.

Gone was the seduction, the knowing smiles, the innuendo. Here was a side of him she’d glimpsed only rarely. The real Seth, perhaps. And one keen to make a good impression. It was cute. Really too cute. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

“I can’t thank you enough,” he said.

Perhaps that was it? Gratitude, run amok?

“You don’t have to thank me, truly. You were born for this life, Seth. I merely introduced Mr. Neck to you. If you hadn’t been the dashing young man you are, it would have made no difference at all. You have only yourself to thank for this.”

“No. I has you to thank,” he nodded, stroking her hand. “And I haven’t stopped thinking about you since I got here. I can’t. The women here are beautiful, and that’s the truth. But they really do only want a man’s blood ere. More so than at home. I’m no fancy movie star. I hain’t interested in that. I hain’t got no time for it.”

“But you do plan to stay and make a go of it, don’t you?”

“Oh yes. But I don’t want them fancy women. They hain’t for me.” She watched him swallow hard. “I can’t stop thinking about you, Flora. I miss you. Do you miss me at all?”

“I do,” she said, realizing suddenly that it was true. “Yes, I believe I do miss you, Seth.”

He smiled then, his eyes warm. No. Hot. Too hot. Or maybe it was she who was suddenly too hot.

She cleared her throat.

“Well then,” he whispered. “That’s something, innut it?”

“Is it?”

“I think it is and all. I eard you were engaged to be married, and called it off.”

“I did. I was. I was engaged to Charles. You remember Charles don’t you?”

“That fellow with the fancy car the night we went to the Hawk-Monitor’s? Sure I remember him. He was a drip.”

“Seth!”

“He was. A man like that can’t hold a woman like you,” he whispered. “I can see he wants to. But ee’ can’t. You’re too much for him and all. You need a real man.”

“Seth, really…”

“All right then. Why’d e call it off?”

Just then the waitress arrived, and took their order. Seth released her hands at last.

“I wasn’t ready I suspect.”

He gazed at her unblinking over the rim of his water glass as he took a drink.

“Well, I wasn’t,” she twisted her napkin in her lap.

“Oh aye?” he said, a slow smile beginning to spread across his features. “Why’s that then…do you think?”

“I do wish you’d stop looking at me like that, Seth,” she said to buy herself time, and took a drink from her own water glass. She had forgotten how disconcerting his eyes could be.

His grin spread, and the old Seth was back. Cocky, sure of her reply he said, “Looking at you like what? Like a man who likes what he sees?” He twiddled his eyebrows at her. “You know I does, Flora. I does like what I see very much indeed. And I haven’t seen you for so long I can’t bloody help myself. I can’t rightly get over the fact that you’re really here.” The old Seth disappeared and he gave her a blindingly genuine smile. “Do forgive me. But you’ve made me very happy.”

“I’m happy to see you too,” she heard herself say, getting lost a little in his eyes. “You do look like Hollywood agrees with you. Why don’t you tell me some about the movies? What is it like to be in one?” She leaned in.

And as breakfast progressed and Seth talked, she found herself not bored at all by his conversation.

* * *

They left breakfast to find Seth’s car waiting. She was impressed as he handed her into the back of the little open-aired car, his own driver up front. They raced into the morning, the wind in her hair, and Seth told her more about Los Angeles and his experiences. They drove around looking at various places Seth had come to enjoy. His favorite cinema. The shops on Rodeo drive. Then the movie studio itself.

“We’ll be back ere later today and go inside,” he told her. “I’ve arranged for the lot of ye to tour the set. Do you think Ma may come to forgive me if she sees this lot?”

“I don’t know. She has been doing so much better of late, but with you it’s hard to say.”

His expression shuttered.

“You were always her favorite, I think.”

“Aye,” he said, not meeting her eyes. “They do say as how I favor my father,” he said finally, face aflame. “More n’ Reuben.”

“Do you not remember your father, Seth?” She said to try to deflect some of his discomfort.

“Nah. He died when I were a babe. I only know the stories. And not many of them were good.”

“Do you happen to know what ‘great wrong’ he did my father? Cousin Judith would never say.”

“No I don’t,” he said with a chuckle. “But whatever it was I can’t say I’m sorry for it. For it brought you to us, dinnit?” He took her hand in his, stroked it a little and then somewhat doubtfully raised it to his lips.

His kiss upon her knuckles filled her with a curious heat. She noticed how soft his lips were. It was not at all a comfortable thing to notice, nor very ladylike. She cleared her throat and looked away.

She watched as his arm slid around the seat behind her, felt him settle himself closer to her.

“Seth…”

“Aye?”

She turned and found his eyes very close to hers. Very close and very green. He had such long eyelashes. They gave him a deceptively innocent look.

“I’m not ready for this,” she whispered.

“You is a slow mover, that’s for sure,” he said in reply. “But I can wait, Flora. I can be patient. Gentle as a lamb. Harmless as a setting dove…for you.”

“Can you indeed?” He was altogether so uncomfortable. So unsettling. Not at all like Charles. Charles was safe. Perhaps too safe. Perhaps that was the problem.

“I think you want me, Flora. But I scares ya. Do I scares ya, little innocent?”

“Seth, really!”

“I do,” he smiled, “But I think you wouldn’t be here right now if there wasn’t something between us, eh? We have been apart as far as the east from the west and yet…you are here.”

“Yes,” she said, dropping her eyes from here. “I came to see…if…”

“If I was part of why you broke your engagement?”

“Yes actually. I did come to see that.”

“And was I?”

She sighed. “I don’t know.”

“Would it help ye to know if I were to kiss you?” He said with a smile.

His face was very close to hers. She glanced at his lips, remembering their softness as they brushed across her knuckles. She wet her lips without thinking.

He saw the gesture and smiled rather sweetly, leaned in and touched his lips to hers.

* * *

She did not push him away!

He’d thought she would. Expected her to. Expected himself to be disappointed. Rejected again. But she did not.

Oh bloody hell, she was all softness! All warmth and wetness and woman. His blood was afire, filled with longing, lost in her softness, crying out for her. Desiring nothing but the taking of her here and now, and be damned to anyone who saw!

But he wouldn’t of course.

Flora wasn’t that type of girl. Despite all her bluster, he knew her sort very well. Innocent. So proper and repressed. Longing for a real man to set ‘er free. Make her sing. Make her blood hot for him. Make her cry out against him…break through her inhibitions…and oh, when he did set ‘er free, ohhh then…then she would be all vixen.

All _his_ vixen.

He’d waited a long time for this moment. This first taste. He would not ruin it now by wanting too much. Slow, ‘as what he told her. And ‘as what he would be. Slow as ‘ee needed. Patience. His little bird was timid and shy. Afraid of him, and what he made her feel.

He could taste her fear. Her confusion.

But he could taste her curiosity too. And her longin’. Aye she liked him all right. She sure kissed him like a woman who liked him. He had kissed plenty enough to know the difference between those as was sportin’ with him and those as really wanted him. Flora was the latter. But oh, she was afraid…

Yes it was all there in those full, luscious lips he’d so fantasized about. He wanted to eat them off her face, to feel them yield to him, open beneath him, invite him in. But he wouldn’t try any of that, of course. Not this time. This time was for her. This time, it was all sweetness. Harmless. Gentle.

 _See?_ His kiss told her. _You can trust me. I won’t harm you. I won’t ask too much. I will protect you. I will love you like no other man could ever love you._

And so he would. For it were more than his blood that cried out when he kissed her—it were his heart as well.

* * *

Flora felt his lips land on hers and her breath caught. Her heart pounded in her chest. His lips were soft. So soft as they glided against hers. What a contrast his lips were to the rest of him! He was all hardness, was Seth. Muscle and sinew, hard as rock and strong as an ox. Meat, that’s what Mr. Neck had said. Seth was that in spades. He was all hard masculinity. Hot blooded farm boy. Brought up on hard work, in the stone ages at Cold Comfort. Without any of the refinements other young men of good family had. No advantages. No real education. Just hard work. In truth he should have been more like Dick Hawk-Monitor. But his family and their curse had kept him from such a life. So his accent was low. His upbringing low as well. But perhaps that accounted for that great earthiness about him that so many found so appealing.

Herself included.

There was a very great difference between Seth Starkadder and Charles Fairford. Charles was too urbane. Too genteel for passion. He was great fun at parties and the sort of man a girl could be proud to stand up with, but when everyone had gone home and Charles begged a kiss, it was nothing more than a peck on the cheek and always left one rather disappointed.

When she had once persuaded him to kiss her for real it was equally bereft of feeling. And it was that lack of passion that had been the real reason she’d called it off with Charles.

But Seth…there was no comparison with Seth.

He was being rather gentle with her she knew. She could tell. Holding himself in check. She knew Seth well enough to know what he was capable of did he really bend his mind to seduction. But he was not seducing her now. It was different. He was different. He was…sincere. Earnest in a rather adorable way. So experienced and yet…she suspected in matters of the heart, Seth had no experience whatsoever.

It was…sweet. And she found herself responding to it. To all of it. The sweetness of him, the way he held back. And the way he did not. Even now, she could taste his passion. It made her feel quite breathless to imagine what his kiss would be like if he were not to hold back. What he would be like…

They broke away, and she gasped for breath. Raising her eyes, she found his dark green eyes drinking in her expression, almost daring to speak. He always looked as if he knew what she was thinking. Well, she had no doubt he thought he knew.

“I am not going to roll in the hay with you, Seth,” she panted.

“Hain’t no hay round here to roll in,” he said with a chuckle and a wink. “But if you be wantin’ some, I expect I could find some, soon enough.” He twiddled his eyebrows at her.

“I said I am NOT going to roll in the hay with you!” She said with a laugh. “It was a figure of speech, Seth. Not literal hay.”

“I know what ee meant,” he said, his eyes on her lips, then on her eyes again. “That ain’t what I be wantin’ from you,” he said, stroking her face with the back of his hand in a gesture of tenderness that surprised her.

“What do you want from me?” She asked, mesmerized by the gesture.

He didn’t answer her, and it occurred to her with a shock that maybe he was afraid to.

“I has had enough of rolling in the hay,” he said instead. “Its not what I want anymore. So you don’t ‘ave to be afraid of that. Not with me.”

“Are you telling me that you have…honorable intentions towards me, Seth?”

“Aye. I expect I am.” He said with something of a grin. “I like that phrase. ‘Honorable intentions.’ I spect you never thought to ear me utter such words afore, did ye?”

“No I admit I didn’t.”

“You’ve seen me at my worst. And yet, you’re ere.” He held her hand and stroked it. “Reckon I’ve changed a bit, eh?”

“Perhaps. But only for the better.”

He smiled, and kissed her hand.


	3. A Star Is Born

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A star is born...and a question is asked. Whatever will the answer be?

Chapter 3

The afternoon passed very pleasantly. With the whole party touring the set of “Captain Blood”, Seth’s new movie release. Flora greatly enjoyed meeting Mr. Neck again, who enthused that Seth was the greatest discovery of his career, and was a star already.

“Tonight, Baby, tonight only proves it!” He had said with great enthusiasm.

Cousin Judith did indeed seem affected by the discovery of her son’s new and glamorous life. The check he gave her also did much to assuage her feelings of loss. But Flora noted that her eyes never left Seth whenever he was in the room.

Aunt Ada Doom was the belle of the ball. She reminisced with Mr. Neck about the manner of Seth’s departure, and Mr. Neck was so overcome by this new, glamorous dowager, that he apologized profusely for his comments about the woodshed.

Dick Hawk-Monitor was also very suitably impressed with his new relation’s lifestyle, and thanked him again most heartily for his part in securing Elfine as his wife. Elfine hugged and kissed Seth affectionately and was very pleased indeed with both her life and his, and they had great times catching each other up on both and reminiscing.

Flora presided from a distance, watching her Starkadder and Hawk-Monitor relations with satisfaction. Yes. This was an infinitely preferable family than the one she found the day she came to Cold Comfort Farm. She took a few moments to write in her journal as best she could about the Reunion, but found herself stuck, as always, describing the golden orb’s involvement in it all. Eventually she scrapped it entirely, and wired Mary an excited update instead.

The premier was lavish, and Flora enjoyed very much walking down the red carpet on the arm of her cousin Seth, who brooked no denial upon the subject and insisted she accompany him as his date for the evening. She was very glad she had packed her drop waisted sequin and fringe ensemble for the occasion, and sported a very smart hat that Aunt Ada had brought her from her first trip to Paris.

“Do I shame you, do you think, cousin?” she’d asked Seth when first he’d picked her up.

“No ee don’t, cousin,” he’d said, rolling his fedora carelessly between his big hands as she’d entered the lobby. “Not at all.”

Yes, he’d been quite satisfactorily overcome, she’d decided. And so had she been, to see him in a tuxedo again. Indeed, she did quite like Seth, she admitted privately, as the cameras flashed in their faces and they stopped to be interviewed by a local radio programme.

The premier was gorgeous. The movie was magic, and the crowd loved it. The crowd loved Seth.

“See, Baby! WhatdidItellya!” Mr. Neck shook Seth’s hand afterward, pumping it up and down and shaking Seth himself in the process. “Yer a star, Son! A star is born!!!”

They celebrated at a nice restaurant. And afterward the family retired for the evening. But Seth asked Flora to accompany him on a drive. She did, and was surprised to see where they pulled off.

“Seth, you didn’t tell me you wanted to come to the beach!”

“Do it matter?”

“One doesn’t wear sequins and fringe to the beach! My dress will be ruined!”

“I’ll buy ye a new one,” he said with a wink, and opened her door. Laughing, she took his hand and descended barefoot, into the soft warm sand.

He stood, smiling down at her, his hands on her waist. “Come on. Let’s take a walk.”

They did, and Flora loved the soft warm sand under her feet, and Seth on her arm. It was magic.

They walked to the water’s edge, feeling completely alone in the world together. It was warm and breezy, and the waves lapped at their toes. She found herself wrapping her arms around Seth’s arm, and leaning against him.

“What a beautiful spot!” She said. “And look at the sky!”

“Aye. It be filled with stars.” He said.

“And you’re one of them now! Just think!”

“Aye. And it’s all because of you.”

She looked at him then, gasping at the expression in his eyes.

He reached up and smoothed her errant hair behind her ears, hands on her face. She held her breath.

“I love you Flora,” he said. “I know it sounds sudden like, but I have been thinking of you since I got here. I knows its true. In the depth of my heart.”

She didn’t say anything, just watched him.

“I hain’t never been in love before,” he owned. “I ‘ad lots of girls. But I hain’t never loved one. Until now.”

“Oh Seth…”

Before she could say anything, he was on his knee before her in the sand, a small velvet box in his hand. The ring nestled inside sparkled in the moonlight.

“I as to do this,” he said, “afore I lose the nerve. Will ee marry me, Flora Poste? I love you. I will until I die. Marry me and I’ll do my best to make ee happy always.”

Her breath left her in a rush. He was so handsome, so earnest on his knee before her. His big green eyes luminous and shining with sincerity. His heart was in his eyes. And for all his experience, Seth was out of his depth. He may have been a rounder before, but his heart was innocent. And more than that, as she gazed into his eyes, she saw…her future. Her life. Her own…children…gazing back at her.

“Yes,” she heard herself say. “Oh, yes. I believe I will.”

His face broke into a huge grin, so childlike and so full of joy that her heart broke to see it.

“Ee will? Really?”

“Yes!” She laughed. “I will! Really!”

“Ohh! Flora!” He stood and embraced her, hugged her so tightly to himself that she could almost not draw breath. “You’ll not be sorry, I swear it! I’ll make you proud of me, I will. I’ll buy you diamonds and furs..”

“I don’t want diamonds and furs,” she said against him. “I just want you, Seth.” And as she said it, she knew it to be true. She wrapped her arms around him, his boyish delight overflowing in her heart. “I just want you!”

“I want ee too,” he whispered. “Oh Flora! Flora! You’ve made me the ‘appiest man in the world!” He released her, and she saw that his hands shook as he took the ring and placed it on her hand, as they both giggled like two naughty school children. Then he took her in his arms and kissed her again. But this kiss was different than the first. It was full of fire and promise. Full of passion.

Flora wrapped her hands in his hair and kissed him back with all her heart.

* * *

Seth’s heart fair burst with joy as he took Flora in his arms and kissed her. His! She ‘ad promised to be his! She had said him aye! He kissed her much harder than he meant to, but damn his own eyes he couldn’t help himself! She was so soft in his arms. And to think, all this softness would be his forever now! She’d never leave him again.

“God Flora,” he said when he broke their kiss. “I said I’d be slow but…damn me if I don’t want to be fast now. What do ee want from me? Tell me or I’ll go mad.”

“Slow, Seth,” she whispered, breathless. “I will need time to get used to this. To us.”

“I like the sound of that,” he nuzzled her. “To us. When then? When do ee want the ceremony to be?”

“Well, these things have to be planned…”

“Start planning then. But don’t make me wait too long, Flora. I could marry ee tomorrow morn if it were up to me. I’m sure there’s a church somewhere ere as can do it. I don’t care. I want ye for my wife. The sooner the better.”

“You are a dear,” she whispered. “Don’t you want to go back home for the wedding though? For Reuben and Rennet? And Cousin Mary will want to attend. She’ll be dying to meet you.”

“I want to please you. Will it please you to marry in England then?”

“Yes it will.”

“Alright. So be it. I’ll tell the studio tomorrow. I’ll go home with you on the steamer, and we’ll marry there. But…you will come back with me out here to live, won’t you, Flora?”

“Of course I shall!”

He kissed her again, and his life had never been more perfect.


End file.
